what i ride and why (steel is real)
I am a guy of a certain age and when I started riding, at least something other than a Schwinn Pea Picker Krate (full suspension, btw), there were realistically only two choices of frame material, bad steel and good steal. Good steal is special.
My first true experience with steel was a Lemond Maillot Jeune, Columbus TSX steel, Campy Chorus (ergopower) (pre-Trek). OMG! why did I ever part ways with this bike. The Lemond geometry was as advertised; 100% roadie. This was an all day ride frameset. Smooth and a great example of the steel frameset ride quality. For the larger set (me) the TSX had plenty of stiffness to minimize energy loss on out of the saddle climbs. In my opinion, a timeless frameset and excellent tube set.
A nod to a really nice riding aluminum frameset, Klein Q Pro Carbon (pre-Trek). As you would expect from a Gary Klein design, beautifully and functionally shaped tube; every contour had a purpose - add stiffness, create compliance. Main tubes aluminum, carbon fork, carbon seat stays, stiff bottom bracket. A great big man’s bikes. Comfortably less than 20 lbs with the right wheelset. Smooth ride due to carbon stays and fork, and rocket acceleration supported by the stiff BB. Fun bike to ride and damn close in ride quality to steel.
Today, I have 3 bikes 2x steel, 1x aluminum.
My aluminum bike is a Framed Alaskan fat bike. Great value in a bike. If you haven’t gone fat, you gotta try it. Seriously like a Jeep, fat bikes absolutely crawl through and over anything and an absolute blast on the right kind of snow. This bike is my go to for quick trips to the store, some single-tracking, snow (of course), and those days when a spongy, bouncy fat tire is just what the doctor ordered. Framed Bikes.
My mountain bike is a Ritchey Ultra. Hardtail, squishy fork, and Ritchey Logic tube set - steal. Perfect bike for me. Hardtail is all I need ‘cuz I just don’t ride anything that technical and don’t care for the inevitable bob when climbing with rear suspension; that’s not to say there aren’t framesets out there that address this very well. Anyway, the Ritchey accommodates wide tires yielding sufficient pneumatic suspension from the rear tire and the compliance of steel yields a nice ride on cross country ventures and not too challenging trails.
And, my go to ride is a Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 5.0. Rodeo Labs wanted to create a truly all road, all everything frameset. This not a 100% steel bike as the engineers at Rodeo Labs swapped steel for a carbon head tube and seat tube, and the fork is their wonderful carbon “Spork”. This required a bulkier dropped chain stay to accommodate beefy tires; this added weight which Rodeo Labs, offset with the carbon seat tube. That seat tube helps absorbed a little more vibration over what one might expect from a butted steel tube. Steel everywhere else, yields the responsive compliance one would expect with steel. Switch wheels, tires, and drivetrain if you so desire and this bike can truly be used for any purpose with go all day comfort. It’s my go to for gravel and paved; fast, gritty, smooth. BTW, the Flaanimal is now offered in titanium - WOW; I must have a test ride if I venture to Denver. If you aren’t familiar with Rodeo Labs, you gotta check them out. They are awesome.
One last comment - steel? Isn’t that heavy? Yes, but… For a world class cyclist that rides up the Tourmalet just for warm up and has less than 5% body fat, yeah, weight of the bike really matters. For myself, and, I bet, most of us, there is plenty of room to reduce the weight of the engine before some ounces here and there make a difference on the bike. However, I can appreciate those that go light just because they are geeked-up by the technology that goes into light weight performance bicycles - I get it.